Hopper-feed mechanism for stokers



G. A. KOHOUT HOPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR STOKERS Nov. 2 1-926.

Filed August 9 1921 Nov. 2 1926. Y 4 G. A. KOHOUT HOPPER FEED MECHANISM FUR STOKEHS Filed August 29, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

ATENT GEORGE A.'KOHOUT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HOPPER-FEED MECHANISM FOR STOKERS.

Application filed August 29, 1921. Serial No. 498,265.

This invention relates to furnaces and more particularly to means for feeding fuel thereto. More specifically the invention relates to a hopper platform feed arrangement, whereby the fuel may be fed into the furnace mechanically and the fuel entrance openings may be closed after said fuel has been fed into the furnace.

It is a purpose of the present invention 1 to provide a furnace with a fuel hopper having a shelfdike portion upon which the fuel is adapted to rest and means operating over said shelf-like portion for moving the fuel off said shelf into the fire box.

It is a further purpose of the invention to provide a hopper having a shelf-like portion as pointed out above with an opening leading to the fire box which is provided with closure members that are adapted to be moved into and out of closing position as desired and which will effectually seal the opening to prevent the fire burning back into the hopper. g

It is still a further purpose of the inven tion to provide a hopper of the above mentioned character with afront wall that may be tilted so; as to dump the fuel out of the hopper when it is desired to empty the same, and to provide for removal of the means for 30 pushing the fuel off the shelf, from said shelf, when desired.

It is another object of the invention to provide a hopper feed furnace with a hand stoker having a plurality of,pusher mem hers for moving the fuel intothe fire box said pusher members being preferably of refractory material.- I

It is a further object of the invent1on to provide a hopper feed device for a stoker adapted to automatically and continuously feed fuel thereto, said feed device being provided with pushers or plungers to accelerate the feeding of the fuel and insure a continuous supply of fuel to the furnace.

his a still further object of the inven- I tion to provide plungers of the. above mentioned character that can be operated either individually or simultaneously.

It is another purpose of the invention to 130 provide a fuel feed device of the above mentioned character in a furnace having a flat arch of refractory material atthe throat of the furnace.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a hand stoker with meansfor feeding the fuel into the furnace above the plane at which the coal is ordinarily fed, so as to permit piling of the fuel at the front endof the stoker for coking purposes.

.It is also an object of the invention to provide a hopper with a front Wall forming vention Will appear as the description of the accompanying drawings, showing one form that my invention may take, proceeds. However, I desire to have it distinctly understood that I do not intend to limit my self to the exact details shown or described, but thatI intend to include as part of my invention all such obvious changes and modifications .of parts'as would occur to a person skilled in this art and as would fall within the scope of the claims.

In the drawings is a longitudinal fragmentary sectional view, of a furnace showing the improvedlfuel feeding-device applied thereto, in conjunction with a mechanical stoker;

Fig.2 is'a fragmentary front elevation partly broken away of the furnace shown .in

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of'one of the .closuremembers and the connections therefor; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a modified form of closure member. 7 Referringin' detail to the drawings. the furnace to which the invention is applied comprises an ash pit 5, a stoker grate 6 comprising a plurality of tiltable bars positioned above the ash pit and supported by therear wall 7 of the ash pit, and the transversely extendingsupport 8 atthe forward end of thefurnace.

The front wall of the furnace comprises a proJecting portion 9 preferably made of channel iron anda portion comprising the plates'M andlosubstantially in vertical alignment with the forward end of the stokenthus providing an offset or horizontally extending shelf-like portion 11 beto manipulate the same.

"1 1. provided the bricks 1:2 of refi .ctory mate- "I i ck of refractory material,

o refractory material compid 1 air of the front of the i n'uned furnace are terminates a short distance above the bott m of the arch, thus providing an opening 18 between the bottom of the plate and the plate 11. The blocks 17 are provided with dovetail openings for receiving the holding bar or rod 19 and are put in place by slipping thesame on from the front of the furnace. The plate 15 is made removable for the purpose of removing said blocks. Above the shelf-like portion 11 is provided a hopper having the brick side walls 26 and the removable front wall 20, the plates 1 1 and 15 forming the rear wall of said hopper The front plate 20 is provided with a pair of angle irons 21 forming pockets in which the slidable bolts 23 (see Fig. 2) rest, said bolts being provided with handle portions 24 The bolts 24 extend into sockets 25 in the wall portions 26 at both sides of the furnace.

It will be seen that when the plate 20 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 with both the upper and lower bolts 23 in the sockets 25, that the plate 20 will be held rigidly in position while if the upper bolts 23 are withdrawn, the plate 20 will swing about the lower bolts as pivots and will cause the contents of the hopper formed between the front wall of the furnace and the members 15 and 20, to be dumped forwardly of the furnace on tothe floor 27.

Mounted on the shelf-like portion 11 is a series of closure members or blocks 28 of refractory material, said blocks each being provided with av socket portion at 29 (see F 3) to receive the head 30 on the bracket member 31 which are each pivotally secured to one of the links which are pivoted at the other end thereof to one arm 33 of the bell crank lever 3 1, said. bell crank lever having the other arm 35 thereof made in the form of a socket to receive the operating lever The arm 33 of the bell crank lever is provided with a perforated ear 37 to receive the adjuflable stop member 38 which adapted to engage the projecting wall portion of the furnace as shown in 1 to limit the inward movement of the blocks 28. The blocks 17 are of the same contour as the blocks 28 and member 19 holds these in the same way as the head 30.

blocks 28 effectuin the front wall It will be seen that the ally close the opening 18 of the furnace and that as the blocks 28 move over the member 11 toward the opening in the front wall of the furnace, the fuel 39 will forced on to the stoker 6 to form a pile at 41-0 where the same wili be coked. The members 28 being relatively large and of refractory material, will prevent the burning back of the fuel into the hopper and act as a seal for the opening in the front wall of the furnace.

The blocks a8 are provided with metallic cover plates ll which are secured thereto by means of screws passing through the openings el-z) in t re head 30 of the link 31, said plates serving to hold the heads in position in the bloc-la and also to break up any large lumps coal that may wedge between a block and a block 17. The blocks 28 can be readily removed when desired by swinging the lever 36 downwardly to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1, when the block will be in such position that the plate ll can be removed and the head 30 can be pulled upwardly out of the socket 29 to detach the block from the link '31. Instead of using the connection shown in Fig. 3, the block can be made as shown in Fig. 4 in which the block 28 is shown as having a cover plate il which is secured by means of screws passing through the openingse? in the end of the member 31 that engages with the block 28. The block 28 is provided with a pair of grooves at the sides thereof at 43 and the member 31 is provided with a pair of latorally extending members 1- 1 which are provided with right angularly portions 525 extending along the sides of the block and with inwardly turned end portions 16 seated in the grooves lS.

The bell crank levers are mounted on a shaft 17 which is circular in cross section so that said members may turn independently of each other so that each of the closure members may be operated independently of the others to push the fuel into the fire box. However, in order to provide for the simultaneous operation of all of the parts b means of a single lever 36, the members 48 are provided which pass through openings in the bell crank lever 34: and are adapted to engage in recesses or socket portions 19 in the shaft 47.

Each section of the stoker grate 6 is operated by a single operating lever 50, there being a stoker grate consisting of two sections used in the form of the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2. it being, of course, understood that any number of sections can be used as desired. Each of the sections is provided with an ashdumping member 51 at the rear thereof which is operated by means of the operating member 52 having a handle 53 thereon for operating the ash dumping mo-5. 54s

per, said wall being provided with an opening and said hopper comprising a pair of fixed end walls and a removable front wall portion and means for holding said front wall portion in position comprising an up per pair of holding members and a lower pair of holding members spaced from the bottom edge of said front. wall portion, said members being movable into and out of holding position, whereby said front wall portion is swingable into and out of normal position on said lower pair of members as pivots.

2. The combination with a furnace having a front wall provided with a fuel feeding opening, of a hopper adjacent said front wall having an opening in the bottom thereof closely adjacent said fuel feeding opening, a shelf-like portion below said hopper terminating at its inner end at said fuel feeding opening and substantially in vertical alignment with the inner edge of the opening in said hopper, a stoker grate in said furnace below said fuel feeding opening, whereby fuel is adapted to be fed from said hopper through said openings on to said stoker grate by gravity, pusher members opera-ting over said shelf-like portion and means to actuate said pusher members for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stoker, said means permitting said pusher members to be positioned so as to collectively seal said fuel feeding opening and close the opening in the bottom of said hopper, and permitting said members to be positioned relative to the opening in the bottom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said opening.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a furnace having an opening in the front wall thereof, a shelf-like portion forwardly of said opening, pusher members operating over said shelf-like portion and adapted to close said opening, links pivotally secured to said pusher members, a shaft, and bell crank levers mounted on said shaft, one arm of each of said bell crank levers being pivoted to one of said links whereby the block associated therewith is moved back and forth on said shelf as said lever is os-r cillated and a releasable connection between each of said bell crank levers and said shaft whereby said blocks are either independently operable or movable in unison.

4. The combination with a furnace having a front wall provided with a fuel feeding opening, of a hopper adjacent said front wall having an opening in the bottom thereof closely adjacent said fuel feeding opening, a stoker grate in said furnace below said fuel feeding opening, whereby fuel is adapted to be fed from said hopper through sait openings onto said stoker grate by gravity, ashelf-likeinember below the opening in said hopper, pusher members slidable over said shelf-like portion and means to actuate said pusher members for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stoke-r, said means permitting said pusher members to be positioned so as to collectively seal said fuel feeding opening and simultaneously close the opening in the bottom of said hopper and V permltting said members to be positioned relative to the opening in the bottom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said 013611111 5. The combination with a furnace having a front wall provided with a fuel feeding opening, of a hopper adjacent said front wall having an opening in the bottom thereof closely adjacent said fuel feeding opening, a stoker grate in said furnace below said fuel feeding opening, whereby fuel is adapt- Y ed to be'fed from said'hopper through said openings onto said stoker grate by gravity, pusher members for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stoker grate collectively sealthe opening in the bottom of said hopper, said members being movable across the opening in the bottom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said opening, actuating -means for moving said blocks and a detachable connection between each of said blocks and said actuating means.

6. In a furnace having a fiat arch of refractory material and having an opening in the front wall thereof adjacent said arch, a closure for said opening comprising a plurality of substantially rectangular adjoining reciprocabl-e fuel pusher blocks of refractory material movable into position with their forward ends engaging said arch anc their sides in engagement to collectively close said opening and means for moving said blocks into and out of closing position.

7. The combination with a furnace having a front wall provided with a fuel feeding opening, of a hopper adjacent said front wall having an opening in the bottom thereof closely adjacent said fuel feeding opening, a stoker grate in said furnace below said fuel feeding opening, whereby fuel is adapted to be fed from said hopper through said openings onto said stoker grate by gravity, pushermembers for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stoker grate collectively sealing said fuel feeding opening and closing the opening in the bottom of said hopper, said members being movable across the opening in the bottom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said opening, actuating means for moving said blocks, a

ing said fuel feeding opening and closing detachable connection between each of said blocks and said actuating means and a quick detachable handle on said actuating means, 8. The combination with a furnace, of a stolrer grate, a hopper having an opening in the bottom thereof adapted to supply fuel to said stoker grate by gravity and pusher members for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stolrer grate, said pusher members collectively sealing the fuel opening of the furnace and being movable across the opening in the bottom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said opening, said pusher members having means for operating the same whereby said pusher members are either independently movable or movable as a unit.

9. The combination with a furnace hav ing a front wall provided with a fuel feeding opening, of a hopper adjacent said front wall having an opening in the bottom thereof closely adjacent said fuel feeding opening, a shelflike portion'below said hopper terminating at its inner end at said fuel feeding opening and substantially in vertical alignment with the inner edge of the opening in said hopper, a stoker grate in said furnace below said fuel feeding opening, whereby fuel is adapted to be fed from said hopper through said openings onto said stoker grate by gravity, and pusher members operating over said shelf-like portion and means to actuate said pusher members for accelerating the feeding of fuel to said stoker, said means permitting said pusher members to be positioned so as to collectively seal said fuel feeding opening and close the opening in the bottom of said hopper, said means permitting said members to be positioned relative to the opening in the bot tom of said hopper to vary the effective size of said opening, said stoker grate being positioned a substantial distance below said fuel feeding opening closely adjacent the front wall of said furnace to permit a pile of fuel of substantial depth to accumulate on the forward end of said stoker grate to coke the same. i

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 11th day of August A. D.,

GEORGE A. KOHOUT. 

